Close detection of touch down positioning and real force applied on the bond heads of die attach bonders, wire bonders, or other equipment is an important requirement for calibration and real time monitorization of the bond head applied force. Previous die bond systems use piezoelectric sensors that induce a piezoelectric voltage in performing touch down detection. These piezoelectric sensors have limited sensitivity, require temperature compensation, noise producing, and are relatively costly. Typically, Z axis height calibrations have been executed manually, resulting in subjective determinations that cause errors in the die bonding process from one operator to another. Existing die bond systems are of poor quality, costly, have calibrating problems, and translate the position of and not the real force applied to the bond head. The real force applied to the bond head, if determined, is indirectly measured by the difference between the control and the feedback of a galvanometer. Therefore, it is desirable to have a die bond detector that can perform close detection of touch down positioning and determine the real force applied by the bond head during real time monitoring operations.